Love Forgiven
by IC-Chan aka.Imagination Child
Summary: This is the sequel to Shattered Peices of Glass. And is dedicated to the fans of the original work. What is left for humanity when love cannot even forgive its self? (Taiora)


_Author's Note: Okay, Okay, Okay... I must have read over my reviews for my fics. And I had not realized how many people want me to do a sequel to Shattered Peices of Glass. I decided I would. Though I am honestly against sequels. I think they take away from orignal works. But too many people have asked for a sequel, and well here it is. I just hope it's good. Read, review, and enjoy. ~ IC-chan_

  
  
  


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Love Forgiven  
The Sequel to _Shattered Peices of Glass_

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It had happened twice. Twice in one life time the sound peirced his ears and penetrated the core of his soul. He ached in a way he had never felt.The wounds of a destroyed dream resurfaced that he had no time to prepare to fight against them. And they were obvious to all. All who were unfortunate to look in those longing eyes of fury and disdain could feel a pain surge within like none they had felt before. And for a man of such courage and strength to shed tears of utter despair is a sin to be pitied. Never had one person possesed so much power over another since the cursed days of old when slavery was common among the soil of old America. He was a slave to her, to her eyes compassionate rubies, to her voice light as sacchrine zephyrs in spring, to her lips as savory as honey is to the diligent bee, to her skin which was smooth and inviting under his hands. His entirety was encompassed by her loving soul which moved him in ways he could not express with the inferiorty of human language. To be so very consumed by one woman must have been a sin he thought. Had Adam felt this way for Eve when he laid eyes upon her perfect imperfections? Had Mark Anthony expeireced these passions when he thought of the beautiful brown queen of Egypt, Cleopatra? Was it possible to love to the point of death? 

All the pain was like a swirling vortex, a black hole. It consumed him from the inside out. Ate at his skin. His body ached and burned in utter pain. He wirthed in the bitterness and it took hold of him like a snake coils its helpless prey. 

Taichi Yagami was indeed a broken being of this earth. 

Hikari had watched her brother with sorrowful pity for days on end. His mother and father were none the wiser of the situation. But Hikari was more than aware and her heart poured out to him. She had even felt guilty, for when he told her the story she called him a liar, and this pained him greatly. 

"Tai, you're lying. Sora... Sora wouldn't... She wouldn't do that. She wouldn't hurt you like that." She recalled her words. And all he could do was stare into her soft brown eyes. 

"Sora is the kindest and when you think about the most gentle of us all. Tai I can't believe she would do anything like that." She had fallen to her knees by his side in utter disbelief. 

"Well she did! Do you hear me! She did!" His face was red with a fury that would have terrified any other person. But Hikari was all to familiar with her brother. "Hikari," His anger had turned back to his broken weakened voice, "She did." And he fell back into a sitting possesion his hands barried in his face. 

"But I... I don't understand." Her voice was monotoned. 

"Do you think I did? That I wanted to?" He asked in sobs. 

And from that day on the world had become bleak and colorless for Taichi. Nothing seemed to reach him anymore. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"And he's been like that for days? I don't believe it." Replied Daisuke in equal disbelief. Hikari could only nod, her mood had been brought down considerably after reciting the tale to her friend. 

They sat in solitude together on the park bench, an enchanting veiw of the beach before them. It looked like diamonds strewn across a blue field. The sight was one only seen on movies. The summer sun was warm and gentle as it bathed the city in a light remarkable. 

"I'm... I'm worried about him. He is the strongest person in my life. If he is so broken I can't survive. I can't stand to see him like this not anymore. But what can I do Daisuke? Besides watch him destory himself?" She leaned her head back, vision being filled with the pale blue sky above. She pondered the only thing in her power that she could do, talk to Sora. But had refused to do for fear of starting something she might not be able to fix. 

"Well, uh, you could always talk to her yourself. You can't get through to Tai, I mean that makes a lot of sense. He is kinda uncontrolable when he's emotional." Daisuke sighed and also tilted his head back to look into the sky. "But Sora is sensible. I always did see her as Tai's better half. You might be able to talk to her. Maybe she can talk to Tai. Give him some closure. I don't know." The final sentce sounded more like the Daisuke Hikari was used to. Becasue everything before hand actually made common sense, in fact Hikari now stared at Daisuke in shock and awe. But of course he didn't notice immediately. 

"Daisuke..." said Hikari a half smile on her face. 

He looked into her face, confused as ever at why she looked at him the way she did. "What?" He asked nervous that he might have said something stupid. But his only response was watching Hikari stand and strech. "Dai-kun," she began turning to look at him. "You're more than what you seem. You know that?" He blushed cutely, though he had no clue as to what she was talking about. She knew this and instead of taking the time to explain herself she simply shook her head and said, "Never mind Dai-kun. I gotta go though, later." And she turned off to run down the path leading out of the park. "Ja!" She called to him waving as she turned around the corner. "Ja!" He replied still perplexed as to what she had been talking about. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She had came to the Takenouchi home late in the evening. The sun had already begun to set, and the city horizon was illuminated with the magentas, lavenders, oranges, reds, and hints of blues. Already the slowly darkened sky began to fill with specks of light of the first stars of night. Hikari stared into the sky, silently wishing on the first bright star that caught her eye. It was pink in color and reminded her of her on light. The light that radiated from her being and had time and time again supported her in her time of greatest need in the Digital World. Sealing her wish with a glimpse of hope, she turned to their door once more. "Let this work." She whispered while knocking on the door. 

Hikari was surprised to see Mrs. Takenouchi answer the door. She must have barely gotten home from her shop, she was still dressed in her kimono and her hair was still pinned up with her elegant hair peices. "Hajime mashite, Takenouchi-san." Said Hikari bowing politely. "Is Sora-chan home?" 

Mrs. Takenouchi smiled at the young girl's politeness. "Konnichi wa little Yagami. O-genki desu ka?" She asked her eyes fixed on the small girl. 

"I'm fine, thank you for asking." Replied Hikari bowing once more. 

"That's good to hear. I just wondered seeing how I haven't heard from your brother since I came back into town." Mrs. Takenouchi, like most mothers, always did make small talk. And out of complete respect Hikari went along with the conversation though she wished the older woman would just lead her to her daughter. 

"Actually, Takenouchi-san, I am here for my Oniisan." Said Hikari matter of factly. 

"Oh," Exclaimed the woman in interest. "Well, my daughter is not home yet. She's still at the shop doing a few last minute chores. You can probably catch her if you leave now." 

"Oh, really? Than I'll go right away. Thank You." She rushed the words out as she quickly left down the apartment hall way to catch Sora. 

"No problem, dear. Tell you mother I said hello." Mrs. Takenouchi called to Hikari as she sped away. 

"I will! Arigatou!" Hikari called back as she began to turn down the corner. 

"Do itashimashite!" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Like Mrs. Takenouchi said Sora still remained in the humble shop. Hikari could see her through the large store window. The store was always so radiant to Hikari. Filled with an erray of color and scents. Roses, sakuras, bamboos, tulips, violets, and lillies. The store could have been a literal rainforrest of flora. And the elegant decorating style was an obvious work of Mrs. Takenouchi. Elegant, traditional fans hung on the walls of the shop, ribbons dancing as the hung from the ends of the large fans. Pottery adorned with hand painted art work of nightingales, samurai, and elegant women in kimonos gave to the feel of the shop. To look at it through a window was equvialent to admiring a painting in a gallery. 

Hikari found herslef reminescing about her young childhood playing in the shop, while her brother and Sora assited Mrs. Takenouchi. She even remembered once how she accidentally tipped over one of the displays making a huge mess. She had cried her small heart out over the spill. Tai was furious with her. But Mrs. Takenouchi told him to not be angry. She remembered how the kind women picked her up and held her in her arms. She felt almost like she was in her mother's arms. Mrs. Takenouchi took a handkerchief and dried the tears on her tiny face. "It'll be alright Hikari. we can claen it up." She told her. 

"Yeah, don't worry, okay." Added Sora smiling. And though she was little, Hikari noticed the resemblence Sora held to her mother. It made her smile for a reson she could not explain. 

"Hikari! What are you doing here?" Hikari was startled out of her memories. Hikari was taking back by Sora, who stood also dressed in a satin red kimono adorned with white and pink decor. The large white sash outlined her waist and went into a large exxagerated bow. Her hair was also pinned up with complex yet gorgeous hair peices. She looked like a younger version of her mother. Hikari noticed this and again she smiled at the thought. 

"I wanted to talk to you, Sora. I went to your home and your mother told me to come here. " Hikari answered. 

"Oh, well follow me to the back and I'll let you in. We can talk in there." Said Sora going around the side of the store. She led Hikari through a remarkably clean alleyway and to a wooden side door. 

"How did you know I was here?" Asked Hikari as Sora fumbled with the key. 

"I saw you through the store window from the back room. I was sweeping when I noticed you." Answered Sora opening the door. As the door opened the smell of fragrant flowers assulated the air. The back room was filled with far more flowers than the front of the shop. Unfinished and finshed arrangements for clients filled a large round table just to far right side of the room. Sorted flowers sat in large water pots along shelves. Other sets of flowers still sat potted and growning soil. Beside them sat a large watering can. Another desk sat just beyond the table, this is where their various tools were stored. Overall though the room was a neat and tidy place. 

"Well, what did you want to talk about?" Asked Sora as she finished an arrangement she had been working on. 

"Uh, I... I wanted to... that is I wanted to," but the words wouldn't come out. 

"Go on Hikari, you can talk to me about anything." Encouraged Sora as she went to the potted flowers. She slowly picked up the large watering can, struggling a bit with it's weight. But finally getting her balance she began to tend to the young plants. 

"Sora, how have you been?" Asked Hikari trying to start the conversation small. 

Sora's expression had went from cheerful to emotionless. A sudden sadness came over her and she sighed longingly. Hikari took notice of this but did not speak a word. Sora remained silent for a short time, but then , as though she had decided on something, she shook her head and immediately smiled again. "I've been alright I guess. Why do you ask?" 

Hikari could see straight thorugh the facade. "I ask because," she paused once more, "Becasue Oniisan has not been doing as well as you." Sora gasped at the mentioning of Tai. "And I wondered if," Hikari continued, "You might have known why." 

The silence that passed was eerie for the two. Probably because the silence spoke louder than any words that had passed between the two friends. It told a hundred truths, and the one that spoke loudest told Hikari what she wanted to know. Sora was more than aware of what she had done. And from the looks of the situation, she wasn't proud of it. 

"Sora?" 

Again the silence replied. 

"Sora, I-" 

"Can we talk about anything else?" Interrupted Sora, her voice soft. 

Hikari looked with anger and confusion. This was not the Sora she had known and loved like a sister. "Sora, why are you changing the subject?" She asked in frustration. 

"Look, can we please speak of something else? Please." Sora pleaded with the younger girl. 

"Tai is devastated. I had to talk to you." She edged closer to the older girl, who had still not turned to look at her. 

"Hikari, please." Her voice was still soft but it emmited something more. 

"He hasn't been the same since that day." 

"Hikari..." 

"He won't eat." 

"Hikari..." 

"He hasn't slept." 

"Hikari..." 

"He's even shut me oout. Me! He tells me everything! But now he won't even look at me!" Hikari was on the edge of tears. "Tai is lost without you. Why did you hurt him? Why di-" 

"HIKARI! Stop it! Please! Just stop it!" Sora had beaten her, tears already covered her face. Like one large river broken into dozens of canals, the tears poured. No stopping, they poured and dripped from her flushed cheek. 

"I know he's hurt. I know I hurt him. I don't need be reminded." Sora had fell into Hikari's arms, crying miserably on her shoulder. Hikari could feel the warm tears bleed through her shirt, and all she could do was hold the older girl. 

"I've known all the time." Sobbed Sora, crying harder than before. 

This puzzled the young girl even more than before. If Sora had known all this time why had't she saond anything? Why did she let him hurt on? Didn't she care about him? If not as a lover at least as a friend? Why had she suddenly abandoned the one guy who's been by her side all her life? The questions overwhlemed Hikari's mind, there so many. 

"But... but... " Hikari was left to a stutter. 

"The night... the night he heard Yamato and I talking. I heard him by my door as he left. I... I..." The sobs grew more wild and hysterical as she rcounted her tale. "I was panicked! Scared! Horrified! I had came to my senses to late and when I opened the door. I was just in time to watch him leave. Leave me... forever." And again she broke out in to wailing sobs. 

"Can you imagine how I felt? I saw the pain in his eyes. I recongnised it. Hell, I had lived it at one point. And to think I had sent him spiraling into the same pain as I had just recovered from. I was disgusted with myself." 

"But Sora," Hikari pushed the girl upright. "If you knew why did you go back to Yamato even after you'd seen him left?" 

"That's just it. I didn't." Sora wiped her face with the back of her hands, though it didn't help much if at all. "I couldn't. I know now that Yamato and I were not ment to work out. And I knew even more that I couldn't betray Taichi that way. We were together Hikari. Your brother and I had finally found each other. And it was pure ecstasy." 

"Oh, Hikari... I love him so much. I know that now." Again the tears were immense. 

But hearing this, hearing these words did not relieve Hikari in anyway. In fact anger began to surge through her being. "You let him hurt all this time? Why didn't you go to him after you realized all this!" She was infuriated. 

"Sora, you are the only person I have seen my brother love! I mean truly and deeply love! His feelings for you are inspiration beyond compare!" Hikari's face was now heated red, and tears came like rivers. All this was for Taichi, she would say and do what he would not. This she had promised. "When you betrayed him," Sora's crys grew even more at that statement. "His world was pulled from beneath him. The first time he didn't even have a chance with you, but this time he had a chance. He had an actual chance. He has made you his world! And his world was pulled away from him so suddenly that he could stand the impact." 

"Don't you see, Hikari" Sora had calmed just enough to be understood clearly. "That's why I couldn't go to him. I betrayed him. I don't deserve him. I deserve Taichi or to be happy. This is my punishment." 

Had the girl gone completely mad? "You punish yourself by completely ignoring him? That's not just punishment for you. You're punishing him as well. Don't you realize that?" Somewhere between the tears and shouts, Hikari had lost her cool. She had frightened herself with sudden burst of emotion. 

"I... I... I'm a horrible person, Hikari." The event follow was one neither could have expected. Hikari didn't what had came over her when she slapped the older girl, but she didn't like it. She had never inflicted pain on any living creature in her entire life. And Sora was stunned. She held her cheek to her face in utter amazement. She stared at Hikari, speechless. 

"You are not horrible," began Hikari. Her chest heaved, her breathing was hard. "You are in love, and someone loves you. And not only that you are love. You are the living incarnation of love. Love is not a horrible thing, Sora. Next to life, love is the most precious and poerful thing humanity has. If Love doesn't even have the power to forgive its self, than there is no hope left for the rest of us." And the silence came. 

No one cried, no one spoke, no one made a sound to penetrate the thoughful sielnce that spread like a sea does over the shores. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It said that you don't realize the value of what you have until you lose it or have at least come danergously close. It is becasue of this fatal flaw that regret is so immense in our world. But there are those few of us who, despite their own humanity, recongnize this imperfection and instead of living life full of one regret after the other, they seize life with their own grasp and cherish each moment as if it was the last. 

Night had passed a blanket of deep blue velvet over the city. Flecks of white light littered the entire sky. The city was consumed with affairs of its own. Like ants to a colony, humanity passed noticing nothing but what matter to themselves. He saw this and he pitied all who could not see the world as he had. 

A small child, one pure to the sins and spoils of society, will view the world in a way that most have quickly forgotten. Every detail about this world is something to studied, explored, cherished; The eyes of a child are so so full of a love for life that it goes unmeasured. It's sad to think that that very same child will grow and learn and soon the innocence and reverence that child had for life will be betrayed by age. And what was once splendid will be taken for granted. 

Sora had supposed she crossed that line between youth and age. She had taken his love for her for granted. At least that's what she figured. But in all honesty, nothing was taken for granted. Another flaw, though not fatal, are mistakes. But all mistakes can be remedied. 

'He seemed so stiff.' She noticed as she wantched him. And the city below was a blaze of lights. She couldn't even recall how long she had stood there and watched him. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes, though it fell like a dozen lifetimes had passed. 

It was plainly obvious what she had to say to him. Though the words, between leaving the shop and going to his building, were lost along the way. All she had done was watch him from a distance. Who knew when she would find the courage to speak. 

"Is there something you want to say?" It looks like she wouldn't need to find the courage. 

"Tai, How... how did you... I mean How did you know I was-" 

"In the summer, after you leave the shop, you smell like vanilla." She blushed, pink tinge across her face. But his voice had not let up. It was still hard. Still uncomforting. 

"Sora, let me ask again... Is there anything you need to say? If not, please leave me alone." She could feel her body lurch. Suddenly she felt nauseaed. A millon knives had sliced there way into her soul. Far more inflicting than any physical damage. 

She exhaled deeply, a sudden shortness of breathe coming over her. "I wanted to... I wanted to... that is... I'm sorry. So very sorry, Tai. Please don't hate me!" Her body had suddenly become an entity all on its own and she ofund herself wrapping her arms around his waste. His back still turned to her. 

His body was so stiff against her. It felt unnatural for him to be so distant and unmoving towards her. She could feel her heart split under the pressure. She had been hurt before, but this pain was beyond anything she could comprehend. 

"Please, please don't hate me." She barried her face deep into his back, her hot tears bleeding through his shirt. 

His heart felt as though it would burst through his chest. For her to be so close was something that could still inflame all the love he held deep for her. No matter how he forced it back. 

"I could never hate you." He spoke soft, but clearly. "You should know that by now." 

"But Tai," The words came out in a burst of tears. "How couldn't you? I've done something so horrible! I don't deserve your love or you. I don't ever deserve to be forgiven. And yet here I am. Standing here asking you to forgive me... I'm such an idiot." Slowly she turned his body around to face her. He didn't dare fight her, but allowed her to lead. 

The sadness the existed in those brown eyes were of the deepest fathom. No indigo seas could compare to their depth. No moutains could surmount to their hieght. A hundred universes more vast than the last lived within those eyes. His soul was so sorrowful. It could have warmed even the coldest of hearts, and crumble stone with just one stare. 

"And yet," She breathed each word out in hot breathes, "I'm still here." Her hands slid slowly towards his face. Overcome by the need to touch his face. "Tai," her lips was just inches away from his ear. "Tai... please." Again she whispered. 

He could feel his body surcome to her. His eyes closed as bathed in the feel of her breathe and the sent of her body. He could feel himself wrapping his arms around her. She had become a drug to him, a drug he couldn't deny. He didn't want to deny. 

"I know I am a horrible person," She kissed his cheek, "but please forgive me. I'm sorry. I... love... you." 

He squeezed her body closer to his, she was so small so fragile. Like a porcelian doll. "You're not horrible, don't say that. You are love. Love is perfect in everyway." He told her kissing her neck. 

"Than do you forgive me." Compelled by his touch, his scent, his essence she kissed his lips gently. 

"I did long ago. Sora, I love you more than you know." He returned her kiss, being more passionate. 

"Aisheteru, Taichi." 

"Aishteru." 

Sins are not to be loathed. Mistakes are not meant to be regretted. Love is not to be underestimated. But all is to be forgiven. 

  


_Author's Note: What do you think? Is it a worthy sequel? I hope so. I did this fic for those of you who insisted that I do this. I just hope it's worthy enough for your admiration. Anyway, please tell me what you think. Would you believe a lot of my inspriation came from the song This Woman's Work by Maxwell? I just thought I would give some credit to the song. It's absolutely beautiful, you should hear it.~IC-chan_


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